


I'm a little sick right now...

by ToshiChan



Series: 'Cause I'm only looking for a little peace [1]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum, Depression, Family Feels, Gen, Headcanon, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 10:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16386029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToshiChan/pseuds/ToshiChan
Summary: Sometimes, all anyone ever sees is what’s wrong with them





	I'm a little sick right now...

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted some sweet, sweet Duck Tales content so I made some myself. Please enjoy my headcannons!!

 

Donald knew that he wasn’t exactly the best guardian all the time. He had anger issues and an inability to hold down a job that led to a lot of hardships for him, and in turn, for the boys. The three beautiful boys that Della had left behind when she set off for the stars and never came back. Try as Donald might, he was not the boy’s father. He was their uncle, and a pretty crappy one at that, if he was being honest. They had to live on a houseboat, barely scraping by enough money to live. He constantly had to make sacrifices in order to keep food in their bellies.

But there was one thing Donald would never sacrifice.

The boy’s therapy and medication.

All three of the boys weren’t exactly what anyone would call neurotypical. In fact, they were far from it. It ran in the family. Donald had his awful anger issues that he’d never quite been able to get over. Della had a lot of insecurity and self-doubt that led to stuff like her abandoning three eggs and taking off into space without so much as a goodbye.  And Uncle Scrooge…well Donald didn’t like to think about Uncle Scrooge. But he’d probably missed those genes, which wouldn’t have surprised Donald at all. 

So yes, the boys were not going to become the poster children for mental stability anytime soon but Donald would rather die than give them up. He knew what it was like to live with a brain that didn’t exactly work the way society said it should. What kind of duck would he be if he gave up on his three nephews for working through the same things he did.

Huey was on the spectrum.

He’d been diagnosed at an early age after Donald had noticed the signs. Donald had had to go to three doctors before somebody would do it officially. The first ones he saw were reluctant to ‘slap a label’ on such a young duckling but Donald was adamant. Even at a young age, Huey liked to have a name for everything. He thrived on order and knowledge. Having a name for why he did the things he did only served to help him accept himself instead of isolating him like the first doctors had feared. Huey never thought he was a burden because of who he was, not that Donald would ever let him think such a thing. Huey was bright and organised and curious. Donald loved him to bits.

Responsible as Huey was however, Donald still worried about him. The boy put a lot of effort into presenting himself as a neurotypical person and it often left him burnt out or hyper focused when the end of the day came. Neither of these kind of days would end well. He put a lot of pressure on himself as the oldest triplet and refused to stop, even when Donald begged. Huey liked to be in control of every situation and believed that such order was up to him and nobody else. He was fiercely protective of Dewey and Louie and put their needs before his, even when Donald could see how tired and worn out it made him.

Huey saw a therapist. He said it helped him keep a mental check of himself and address any problems as soon as they popped up. It was expensive and the therapist resided all the way across town but Huey liked her so Donald refused to switch. He saw how happy Huey was when he came back from the meetings, excited to talk to Donald about the different ways his brain worked. Huey loved learning about how things functioned, and he himself wasn’t excluded from this passion. Plus, the therapist helped with Huey’s meltdowns. They got less frequent as he grew older but they still happened.

When his meltdowns happened, they were large. Huey would let it all build up and simmer away until it exploded all at once. His desire to be somebody everyone could count on would lead to him buckling under the pressure of it all. Sometimes he’d scream and rage and break whatever he could get his feathers on. He would never lay a finger on Dewey and Louie but he’d gotten close to it more than a few times. Other times, he’d cry and cry and cry until there was no more tears to shed. And occasionally, he’d get very quiet and hide himself away somewhere. Donald was scared of that the most. He never knew where to find Huey when he disappeared.

There was someone who did, though.

Dewey had ADHD.

Unlike Huey, he hadn’t gotten an official diagnosis until he started school. The doctor told Donald that this was alright, and that it wasn’t his fault, but Donald found that hard to believe. He’d been so caught up in looking after Huey that he’d missed the fact that his second nephew was also having problems. Dewey’s ADHD was quite extreme, according to the doctor. Whilst Huey didn’t need medication, Dewey did. Without it, he could barely function. He would swing between being hyper focused and so distracted that he would even forget to do simple things like eat and sleep. Donald worried for him the most, since Dewey didn’t really care about managing his ADHD. He would take his medication dutifully each morning at the same time as Louie took his but apart from that, he was happy to just live in the moment.

There was nothing wrong about such a sentiment. Donald knew that it was important for Dewey to be comfortable but he couldn’t help but fret. Dewey would put himself in danger without a moment’s hesitation because he was incapable of stopping to think about things. He couldn’t control his behaviour so he never bothered to. He got into more trouble than Huey and Louie combined and often couldn’t get himself out. It was Dewey that reminded Donald of Della the most, and that worried him. If Della was capable of abandoning her entire life for the possible chance of adventure than what was Dewey capable of?

He struggled at school. Donald knew he would never admit it but Dewey hated it when they had tests and Huey and Louie got to show off their high grades and he had nothing to show but a ‘please see me’ scrawled on the top of the page. Donald had told the school about Dewey and his ADHD but it seemed that they had already forgotten it. There were never any efforts made to give him the help he so desperately needed and wanted. Dewey hated school, but he hated being out of the loop even more. Donald had seen him staying up late, night after night, trying to teach himself a new maths trick or work out the meaning behind a long passage of poetry. Donald never had it in him to stop Dewey from doing this.

Dewey may have been easily distracted and slow to learn things that he didn’t like, but he was also fiercely caring. Nobody would get hurt if Dewey was around to have a say in the matter. Huey may have put his brothers before him but Dewey put his brother’s s _ afety  _ before his own. That was why he was always able to find Huey when the older was breaking down. Dewey made it his business to know everyone’s business. He would never just sit by and let his brothers suffer if he could do anything about it. But he couldn’t always be a pillar of strength. He could crumble easily and fall apart from the stress of it all, from the different distractions that would slowly overwhelm him.

So when Dewey was falling apart, it was up to somebody to help put him back together.

Louie had depression.

It had taken Donald a long time to notice. Louie was always the quietest out of the three and Donald had often felt relieved that there was nothing he had to worry about with Louie. He’d been so very wrong, and much like with Dewey’s late diagnosis, he hated himself for it. Louie had noticed this, because Louie noticed everything, and told Donald that it wasn’t his fault. He’d been actively trying to hide his depression. He hadn’t wanted anyone to know about it. But still, Donald wished it hadn’t taken ten years for him to notice that Louie wasn’t the odd duck out of the triplets. None of them were. Like Huey and Dewey before him, Louie’s brain didn’t function in what was considered the ‘proper way’.

Louie’s depression was bad. Bad enough that Donald had hidden all the sharp objects in the house away and had a lock for the medicine cabinet. Once Donald was aware of Louie’s mental illness, he was surprised his third nephew had hidden it for so long. Then again, habits that Donald had passed off as quirks of Louie’s had actually ended up being symptoms of his depression. His quiet attitude, his sensitivity, his laziness, his dark spells, his need for love and validation. They weren’t just things that made Louie, Louie. They were warning signs for something worse to come. The day he’d found out about the depression was one that would haunt him forever. Louie, sobbing over a knife, trying to work up the courage to use it. Huey and Dewey, locked in their bedroom by their youngest sibling, screaming for Donald to do something, anything.

Louie was on medication and he had a therapist. She wasn’t the same as Huey’s, but they went to the same place. Donald knew it stressed Louie out to no end to be wasting (his words, not Donald’s, for money spent on the boy’s wellbeing could never be wasting) so much money but he also knew that loath as he was to admit it, Louie relied on the medication and the therapy. He sometimes needed grounding, just like Huey did. Though, instead of the outside world becoming too much like it did for Huey, Louie often got lost in his own thoughts. It scared Donald, watching Louie drift so far away. It scared him even more that he often couldn’t do anything about it.

Depressive episodes were scary, though Donald hadn’t seen Louie have many of them. This was because Louie hated being weak, and in his eyes, depression was a weakness. He would hide away his problems from everyone and then slowly succumb to them. Honestly, that was something all three of the boys had in common. They hated showing off their insecurities and they hated being what they saw as a burden on others. Louie might have been the worst of them all, though. Still, his great efforts to appear calm and in control of himself had led to an incredibly sensitive child who looked up to his brothers and wanted to help them in any way possible. It was him who would go to Dewey when he was breaking down and find some way to talk him out of it. Louie had a way with words.

Maybe it was because he spent so much time in his own head.

Huey knew out to get him out though. In fact, all the brothers knew what to do when the other one was drowning. And for that, Donald couldn’t be prouder.

It didn’t matter that he was so incredibly poor that they had to live on a boat. It didn’t matter that Christmas and birthdays were never the big extravaganza that so many kids had. It didn’t matter that Donald had to get so many jobs.

All that mattered was looking out for Della’s kids.

His boys.

* * *

Huey didn’t like it when people knew he was autistic. It wasn’t like he was ashamed of it or anything. Far from it, in fact. It was just that people always treated him differently once they knew. They’d call him special and gifted to his face and weird and neurotic behind his back. Huey hadn’t quite figured out which treatment he found worse. He just wanted to be treated like everyone else. Was it too much to ask for?

Uncle Donald had told him that being different sometimes meant being treated different and that that was okay. Equality wasn’t always a good thing. If people treated Huey like they treated neurotypical people than things wouldn’t work out for him.

Huey had to admit that Uncle Donald had a point. He did need different treatment sometimes because of his autism. But he didn’t need people seeing him as different and then treating him like that. He just wanted to be a normal kid with normal healthy interests and two normal brothers. But no matter how many times he told people that, they would ignore him and continue to treat him like a baby.

“It’s dumb.” Huey complained one night, lying on the top bunk of his bed and staring at the ceiling that was sometimes way too close for comfort. “Being treated like that. I’m not a freak. Why do people have to treat me like that?”

“Ableism.” Louie said flatly. 

“Is that the right word?” Dewey wondered out loud.

“Probably.” Huey could practically hear Louie shrug as he said that.

“Maybe it’s just called discrimination.” Dewey pondered. 

“Whatever it is, it sucks.” Huey grumbled. “People act like I’m a baby or something. But I’m really smart.”

“Of course you are.” Louie agreed, ever the peacekeeper. He hated it when his older brothers fought, whether that be against each other or someone else. 

“What set this off?” Dewey asked carefully.

Huey sighed. Much as he sometimes hated that his brothers knew him so well, Dewey was right. Something had set this particular train of thought into motion. 

“There was this new scout leader at Junior Woodchucks today. Somebody told her I was autistic and she spent the rest of the session just...you know…”

“Yeah.” Dewey sighed. “I know.”

They all knew.

“I just wish people didn’t have to know. I mean, isn’t it my right to tell people? Why do other people get to say it for me?” Huey rolled over and tried to stop the tears from falling. 

“The world sucks.” Louie said. 

“Thanks for that cheerful sentiment.” Huey said sarcastically.

“No problem.” Louie retorted.

“Can you talk to someone about it?” Dewey kicked Huey’s mattress. Huey didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop. He was always jumpy around bedtime.

“I’ve tried. Believe me, I’ve tried. They all just wave me away, and keep doing it. They don’t take anything I say seriously. It’s so unfair. I like being autistic. I like having a word to define me. But everyone makes it sound like a bad thing.” Huey couldn’t stop the tears now. He was sobbing. “I don’t wanna be autistic, guys.”

“Aw, Huey.” There was movement from Louie’s bed and suddenly he was up the ladder at Huey’s side.

“Sibling hug!” Dewey was up there in no time at all. The two sandwiched Huey between them. It always made Huey feel comfortable, to be held so tightly. 

“Being autistic isn’t a bad thing.” Louie murmured. He never liked to raise his voice. “People who make you think it is are dumb. You’re always the smartest person in the room, Huey. Nothing anybody says can change that.”

“But they make me feel like I’m nothing.” Huey confessed.

“Who?” Dewey asked.

“Everyone.” Another wave of sadness rose in Huey. He thumped the mattress anxiously with his feet. 

“I’ll kill them.” Louie growled. 

“Please don’t.” Huey had to laugh at that. 

“I’m serious.” Louie snapped.

“No you’re not.” Dewey reached over Huey to poke the youngest triplet.

“Yeah, I’m not.” Louie snickered, his dark mask put aside for the sake of his brothers. “There are easier ways to ruin someone’s life then killing them. Cause then they don’t have a life to ruin.”

“There’s too many people for you to do that.” Huey said. It was a sobering moment for all three of them.

“I’ll come back to Junior Woodchucks.” Dewey said quietly. “We both will.” 

Huey wrapped his arms around his brothers. “Thank you.” He whispered. “But you don’t have to. I know neither of you like it. And I have to learn to handle things on my own. Today’s just a…”

“Speed Bump?” Louie suggested. 

“Sure.” Huey agreed for lack of a better metaphor. “It’s just been building. You know how it is.”

“Yeah.” Louie sighed.

They all did.

“Sometimes…” Huey said into the darkness. “It feels like all anybody ever sees is what’s wrong with me. With us.”

“There’s nothing wrong with us.” Dewey said fiercely. 

“We can’t keep pretending.” Huey shook his head.

“We’re not.” Louie argued.

“You’re one to talk, Louie.” Dewey snorted. Then… “Sorry, shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s fine.” This time, Huey could feel Louie’s shrug. They were pressed so tightly together. 

“What do you mean?” Huey asked Louie curiously.

“What I meant is, you’re not.” Louie corrected himself. “You’re not pretending, Huey.”

“But I am.” 

“There’s a difference between not wanting people to know verses pretending nothing is wrong.” Louie sounded tired. 

He was always tired. 

“I don’t get it.” Dewey whined.

“Huey admits things to himself. And that’s all that matters.” Louie explained.

“Alright.” Dewey seemed happy with the explanation, though Huey wasn’t.

“What do you mean?” He repeated.

“It doesn’t matter how other people see you. It’s how you see yourself that’s right.” Louie stuck his head under the pillow.

“Okay.” Huey accepted this. A small smile spread across his face. “Okay.”

“Can we sleep now?” Louie’s voice was muffled.

“Of course.” Huey said.

None of the brothers showed any sign of moving. There was a silent agreement between them to spend the rest of the night cuddled up against each other.

Still, it took a long time for Huey to drop off. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Louie had said.

_ It’s how you see yourself that’s right _

How did Dewey and Louie see themselves?

Because while Louie had said something that sounded wise and did apply to a lot of people, Huey couldn’t help but think that it also sounded like an excuse for self hatred.

“I’m not wrong.” He whispered to himself. “I’m not a baby. I’m smart. I’m not wrong.”

_ There’s nothing wrong with me. _

* * *

Dewey hated school. That was not an exaggeration. In fact, it was an understatement if anything.

Dewey  _ loathed  _ school.

It didn’t make any sense to him. He was never focused enough to learn anything unless he had a real interest in it. And when he did, he got so into it that he ended up looking like a stupid kid, all excited over a bridge making program or a new game in P.E. There was no in-between, no balance that Dewey had ever been able to find. He was stuck in a perpetual state of sucking at school and no amount of help or medication was going to get him out of it.

The thing was, Dewey wanted to like school. The stuff they learnt could be fun, and it was such a social environment. Dewey liked to be in the thick of it all, surrounded by people who liked him. Too bad his ADHD had led to a severe lack of friends. He blurted things out when he couldn’t help, stopped listening without meaning to and didn’t know anything about manners. People found him loud, abrasive, rude. Nobody wanted to be Dewey Duck’s friend. 

Except his brother’s of course.

Still, sometimes Dewey wished he had more. He loved his brothers, more than he loved himself. But a small part of him (a small but loud part) said that that was just because of obligation, because they were related. 

So yeah, Dewey wanted friends.

He just didn’t realise it would be so hard.

“I don’t get it.” He admitted one late afternoon when the triplets were gathered on the deck of the boat, waiting for Uncle Donald to get back from work. “It’s just a dumb attention disorder. Why does it have to make everything so hard?”

“Because that’s the way it works.” Huey said immediately. 

“Well it shouldn’t.” Dewey grumbled. 

“I know.” Huey agreed.

“Nobody likes me and they use my ADHD as an excuse.” Dewey said forlornly. 

“We like you.” Huey once more spoke quickly.

“I know that.” Dewey sighed. 

“Is it not enough?” Louie spoke for the first time. 

“Of course it’s enough!” Dewey burst out. 

“You wouldn’t be bringing it up if it was.” Louie pointed out.

Dewey deflated. His brothers knew him too well. He could ever get anything past them. Not that being stealthy was his fortay anyway, but still. 

“I just want friends.” He confessed. “Is that such a bad thing?”

“No.” Speedy as ever, Huey.

“Maybe.” Honest as ever, Louie.

“It can’t just be us three against the world for the rest of forever.” Dewey tapped his fingers nervously against the boat railing.

“We have Uncle Donald.” Huey tried for a joke. He wasn’t very good at them. 

“You know what I mean.” Dewey smiled weakly.

“Why can’t it be?” Louie looked over the waves, miles away.

“Because what if I don’t always have you guys.” The words were faint in Dewey’s ears. Voicing his greatest fear had suddenly made it seem like it was going to come real. He didn’t even realise that Huey had slipped a hand into his. 

“You can’t think like this.” Huey said gently.

“I can’t do anything to stop it.” Dewey blurted out. “My body isn’t the only thing that won’t stop moving. I literally can’t stop thinking about these things. I get distracted and drift off and next thing I know, I’m imagining fires destroying the boat or sharks eating you guys in your sleep.”

“That’ll never happen.” Huey tried but Dewey shook him off.

“You can’t know that for sure.” He countered. 

“Sharks won’t come into water this shallow.” Louie said lazily.

“I’ve heard that that’s an old wives’ tale and they can.” Huey said before abruptly slapping a hand over his beak. “Should not have said that.”

“See!” Dewey all but wailed. “It could happen!”

“But that’s why we have you.” Louie suddenly turned and met Dewey’s eyes. “You’re the brave one. The adventurer. None of that stuff is ever gonna happen because we have you.”

Dewey didn’t know how to respond. It was sort of a first. He always liked to have an answer for anything that came up. Even if it didn’t make sense, he didn’t like to stay quiet. He and Huey were sort of alike like that, even if Dewey relied on chaos and Huey, on order. 

“Do you really think that?” He asked finally.

“Yeah.”

“Of course.”

“But what if you don’t always have me?” 

“Why woudn’t we always have you?” Huey was genuinely confused. Sometimes questions like that stumped him. He took them too literally. Huey couldn’t see a future without Dewey, but Dewey could.

“What if you guys hate me one day?” 

“Never.” Louie muttered. 

“What he said.” Huey took Dewey’s hand again. 

“I do so many rash and impulsive things.” Dewey protested. “They could get us in real danger.”

“Then you’ll get us out again.” Louie said simply. “Can’t promise I won’t be scared though.”

“I know that you want more friends.” Huey said before Dewey could even begin to think of a response to Louie. “I get that. I know what it’s like to have people look at you and only see what they want to see.”

_ All they do is see what’s wrong with me _

“I just wish things could be different.” That was the core of it all. Dewey didn’t like to be sad. He wanted things to be different, to be better. “I wish I could actually pay attention to the things that matter. I wish it wasn’t so hard for me to do anything. It’s just so hard, you guys.” His voice cracked.

“Don’t cry.” Huey fretted. He was such an older brother.

“Can’t help it.” Dewey sniffed. “I just want people to stop caring so much about a few dumb letters. It’s stupid. It’s hard enough for me already, they’re just making it worse. Don’t they understand that I can’t help it?”

“People see what they want to see.” Huey sighed. “It sucks.”

“Wow, such bleakness from Hall Monitor.” Louie teased.

“Shut it, Louie.” Huey said without any bite. “You know that nickname is silly. They’d never make me a hall monitor. If anything, they have hall monitors for people like us.”

“Stupid.” Dewey said through his tears. “I don’t need their help.”

“No, you just want it.” Louie leant against Dewey’s shoulder. “Sorry.”

“Why? It’s true.” Dewey looked out over the water. It was such a nice afternoon. The sun had sunk low over the waves and was bleeding into the ocean. 

“I reckon they’re going to need your help one day.” Huey piped up. “I can see it now. Dewey Duck, Adventurer Extraordinaire. No adventure too small for this daring duck.”

“You really think so?” Dewey looked hopefully at his big brother.

“I’d be stupid not to.” Huey smiled back. “You’re so much more than your ADHD, bro.”

“Okay.” Dewey said. It wasn’t exactly an agreement. It was going to take much longer than that. But he did feel a lot better about things.

Maybe he would be fine with just his brothers. After all, nobody knew him better than they did. 

And nobody knew them better than he did. 

So if they said there was nothing wrong with him, then it was probably true.

* * *

Louie knew enough about himself to know that there was indeed something wrong with him. Unlike Huey and Dewey with their autism and ADHD, depression was bad. People didn’t want him to manage it like they did with Dewey and his ADHD. People didn’t want to teach him cool tricks that would help him live with his problem like they did with Huey. People wanted Louie to get better and stop complaining. People thought he was lazy and irresponsible.

Most people anyway.

Huey, Dewey and Uncle Donald weren’t like that. 

They understood that he couldn’t always control his mood swings. They did get upset when things were particularly hard for him, but not because they were sick and tired of dealing with him but because they cared about him and wanted him to be happy. The thing was, it was incredibly hard for Louie to be happy. His brain just didn’t work that way. He was constantly fighting this overwhelming wall of sadness and more often than not, he would lose. The meds and therapy helped a little and sometimes it scared Louie to think where he would be without them. 

Dead probably, if he was being honest.

“Bad day?” Huey asked one morning when Louie hadn’t gotten up with the rest of them.

“Mm.” Louie hummed from under his blankets. 

“Can I do anything?”

“No.”

“Alright.”

Huey left the room, leaving the door open a crack. Louie wanted to get up and close it but he didn’t have the energy. Plus, Huey would just open it again. He, Dewey and Donald had a thing against closed doors. Louie couldn’t blame them, of course, but he felt it was well within his rights to get a little grumpy about it.

He lay in his bed for what felt like forever, thinking the same dark thoughts over and over and over again.

_ I’m worthless _

_ Everyone else is better than me _

_ Nobody likes me _

_ I don’t like me _

_ Why can’t this just end? _

_ I want it to end! _

“LOUIE!” The door slammed against the wall with a loud thud as Dewey burst into the room. “Huey said you were having a bad day so I’m here to cheer you up!”

Louie groaned internally. He did love his brothers an awful lot but sometimes he just needed to be on his own. 

“I brought you some Pep, your favourite comics and my fidget cube!” 

That made Louie pause. 

Dewey’s fidget cube? The one he had on him constantly, the one that Huey and Louie had bought him.

“That’s yours.” Louie said weakly.

“But it makes me happy, so it’ll make you happy.” Dewey argued.

“That’s not logical.”

“You’re always saying I’m not, so who cares.”

Louie finally had the energy to pull himself up into a sitting position. The room was dim but he could still make out Dewey smiling at him hopefully. 

“Go get Huey.” Louie sighed. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing it together.”

“Yes!” Dewey cheered and sped off. He left the stuff he’d brought for Louie on the end of his bed in his haste. 

Louie picked up the fidget cube and pressed a few of the buttons on it. A trembling, small smile spread across his face. 

“Louie!” Huey appeared at the door. “You’re sitting up!”

“It’s not that big of a deal.” Louie mumbled. 

“I’m proud of you.” Huey ignored him. 

“Me too!” Dewey chipped in.

“How are you feeling.” Huey waddled across the room and plopped himself down next to Louie. Unconsciously, Louie leaned into him. 

“Bad.” He muttered. 

“I know I asked this before but can I do anything?” Huey asked anxiously. Louie knew it was tearing him up inside, not knowing what to do.

“Just sit me with.” Louie said awkwardly. 

He saw the gratitude in Huey’s eyes and the excitement in Dewey’s. He knew they liked to look out for him, knew how happy it made them when he let them do it. 

“Did anything trigger this?” Huey asked after a moment. He always was eager to know everything there was to know about anything. 

“Don’t think so.” Louie sighed. “Just woke up feeling worse than usual.”

“Don’t think so is totally code for ‘yes something upset me’ right?” Dewey blabbered. 

“I wasn’t going to say anything.” Huey said over the top of the middle brother. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“You guys know me too well.” Louie gripped. 

“So?” Dewey wheedled. “What is it? Come on, you do the same to us.”

Louie laughed bitterly. It was true. He never let his brothers sit and wallow in their miseries when they were upset. He dragged it out of them, bit by bit, and then offered what advice he could. 

“I had to do that makeup class yesterday, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” Huey and Dewey chimed together. 

“The teacher was all over my grades, calling me lazy and saying I’d never amount to anything. She said I had some of the worst work she’d ever seen and that I was a lost cause. I wanted to tell her that I had depression, but when I tried, she said I couldn’t use it as an excuse. She said I should know better than to make stuff up.” Louie said in a rush. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for one of his brothers to say anything.

“She shouldn’t have.” Huey said reasonably.

“What a cow.” Dewey said at the same time. 

Louie almost laughed. Trust his best friends in the whole entire world to know what to say.

“Louie, you’re not lazy. Things are just harder for you, so sometimes you can’t get things done in time. I know you hate using your depression as an excuse. She had no right to accuse you of doing it when she doesn’t know anything about you.” Huey wrapped an arm around Louie. 

“She’s probably jealous that you’re so smart even when you’re not trying to be.” Dewey wiggled beside Louie, grinning widely when Louie turned to look at him.

“I guess.” Louie tried to sound grumpy but a smile was threatening to break out. “Thanks guys.”

“Feel better?” Huey asked.

“Yes.”

…

“No.”

The tears welled up. Louie hated this. He hated it so much. Why did the tears just come sometime? He never seemed to be able to control them. Hadn’t he just said he felt better? Why did he had to be such a crybaby?

“Hug time.” Dewey had his arms around Louie in an instant. Huey was slower to join in, waiting for permission, but when Louie didn’t complain, he did the same.

“It’s okay, baby bro.” The oldest brother said comfortingly.

“Don’t call me that.” Louie sniffed. 

“Itty bitty baby.” Dewey joined in.

“Stop.” Louie whined.

_ Don’t. Please don’t stop. Please don’t leave me alone. I can’t do it alone. I don’t want you guys to think I’m wrong. Everyone else does, so please, please don’t be like everyone. _

He didn’t say any of that but somehow he knew Huey and Dewey had heard him loud and clear.

* * *

Over the years, Donald watched his three boys grow and learn and overcome many challenges thrown their way. The bad moments, days, weeks, ect, never stopped, but Donald knew that they never would. It was a sad fact of life but it warmed his heart to see his boys meet each new problem with a determination that would have made Della proud.

Moving in with Uncle Scrooge was a large bump in the road and Donald worried constantly that his nephews would fall apart altogether, but they never did. Sure, there were hard times that seemed never-ending but the boys had each other, and now they had Webby as well.

Webby, with her clumsy devotion, social anxiety and desperation for friends.

She fit in with the boys like she’d always been there.

“It runs in the family.” Scrooge said one day, watching the four kids huddle together after a particularly hard adventure. “I have a lot in common with them.”

Donald looked at him in surprise. Scrooge looked over too and their eyes met. The beginnings of an apology hovered in the air. Neither could say it, but Donald supposed that maybe one day they would change.

“Look after them, when I can’t.” Donald said instead.

“What does that mean?” Scrooge asked sharply.

“Just...I’m not very good at looking out for them.” Donald whispered.

“Christ on a cracker, of course you are!” Scrooge burst out. “Don’t sell yourself short, nephew. I know those boys wouldn’t be the lads they are today if it wasn’t for you.”

Donald opened his beak to protest but Scrooge rapped him with his cane to shut him up.

“Let’s not argue over this one, okay?”

Donald had to smile.

“Okay.”

“Uncle Donald!” The kids were making their way over to their uncles. 

“Tell us a story.” Webby begged. “One of your adventure ones.” She hesitated, still unsure of her place in the family. “If that’s okay.”

“Can we have a campfire?” Huey asked excitedly. “It’s cold enough for one and I want to earn my badge for it. That way we can tell all sorts of different stories and gain more experience! I could even type them up! We could have a book of anthology stories one day.” He was always so keen to learn everything.

“As long as I can make the smores.” Dewey grinned. “I wanna make the biggest smore ever. That way I can get in the world record book. Oh, and I wanna invent a new flavour!” Dewey was never without a new idea.

“I can supervise.” Louie finished. That was all he said, and that was enough. Having him with them was enough.

“Sounds wonderful.” Donald smiled. “Uncle Scrooge?”

“What are we waiting for?” Scrooge winked, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “We’ll make it the best campfire ever.”

They walked off together, one mismatched, perfect family.

Donald had made a lot of sacrifices but it had gotten him to a place in his life where he could finally say that he was happy.

And he was certain everyone else was too. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have done research and I hope I have been respectful in my depictions. Please don't hesitate to suggest changes I can make if things aren't right. I do have depression myself so I hope this is at least somewhat accurate. I know things are different for everybody. As a kid, my parents had me tested for autism and ADHD. While I was apparently clear of those, it shocked me to think how worried my parents were that I would have them. They thought it would be more things on a list of things wrong with me, which sort of made me sad, because these aren't inherently wrong things. Just my musings as I wrote this fic
> 
> I have lots of sexuality/gender headcannons as well so lemme know if u wanna see those
> 
> (btw hall monitor is my best buds nickname for huey, its very much stuck in my mind)
> 
> Anyway, please leave kudos and comments!!!! Thank you for reading, woo hoo!


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